1972 Ford Country Squire

[Old Busted Hotness]

Just showing off the 2-way tailgate:



This is about as complicated as anything I've built.

How-to in a bit.

[sydeem]

[b]wow[/b]

[Old Busted Hotness]

Right, pay attention now:



This brass bit is a spring which slides into a hole in the moving door jamb...



...preventing the jamb from rotating when the door is open. A pin pushes against the spring to release it in the tailgate-down position.



The moving door jamb is soldered to a short tube, into which slides a longer tube which locates the assembly between the taillights. The double-tube hinge allows the tailgate to swing down.



The linkage is a bit complex. The outer latch operates a rocker which pulls the pin on the right-hand hinge so the door can open. The inside latch pushes the pin into the left-hand latch and simultaneously pulls the right-hand pin directly, bypassing the rocker.

The linkage is spring-loaded using solar-cell test probes from Norway.

[hot ford coupe]

Brilliant.

[Old Busted Hotness]

Minor update:



Finished the tailgate



Fuel door



Started on a taillight

[Old Busted Hotness]

Got some more done this afternoon:



Taillight and sidemarker



Tailgate painted. The woodgrain is a simple wet-brush mix of brown, red-brown and black. Paint one color, dip your brush in the next color and blend, touch up as needed. With similar colors like this it's not hard to get a nice woodgrain. Once that was dry I faded it with a thin white wash in the airbrush .



Door handles test fitted. How to make door handles:



Frame cut from .020 and a short length of angle...



Assembled with backing sheet.

[3.Star]

Your magic door mechanism is simply fantastic, OBH.

[Old Busted Hotness]

Thanks! It took me a long time to figure it out.

Got started on the interior:



The giant trans tunnel is necessary because the base vehicle is belt-driven.



Ditched the 5-year-old race gear for a nice slow outrunner and a smaller battery. You can see the belt guard down the center of the chassis. I'll probably stick a cooler in the back seat to hide that. I'm determined to use a bench seat up front, but it's going to look funny. Maybe a folded map in the middle over the hump.

Now for some how-to action:

Here's the way I build. I'm going to make a wheelwell at the back of the interior. Start by bending up a piece of styrene into the arc you need to clear the wheel:



Use that as a template to mark the interior tub:



Cut out:



Here's the clever bit. Rather than rely on the line joint between the two pieces of plastic, I bend up some .010 into 90 degree pieces that I glue over the joint.



Just bend, don't crease. You don't want these to crack.



You can see where the angled strips come into play here. They make the joint much stronger so there's no problem with rough handling or poor driving.

[kcfisher]

OBH, what do you use for an adhesive?

[hot ford coupe]

Great stuff. Don't forget the rips and duct tape on the seats. Oh yeah, you also need the ciggy burns and (root) beer stains

[Old Busted Hotness]

kc, I'm using Plastruct Bondene liquid, but only because I can't get Tenax anymore.

[kcfisher]

Is this the stuff you're for?

HEBCO Tenax-7R Plastic Welder - GLUES and ADHESIVES - Hobby Supplies - Oakridge Hobbies & Toys

[Old Busted Hotness]

Yep, that's the stuff. Get it while you can.

[Old Busted Hotness]

HFC, all that and more. I may even attempt a plastic, plastic Hay-zoos. Or maybe a Virgin Mary.

Man, the word filter bleeped Hay-zoos and made an innocent comment seem dirty.

[strevo]

OBH, You could also put a baby seat in the space in the middle. That might help hide the bump. Keep it up, it's looking great!
-Steve